09 • Just the Start

There's only so many places one can hide, where people won't go looking into. In this new superpowered world, depending on the area, those options are either increased or decreased.

Honestly, when I first found out that the poorer areas were even less than watched or cared for from what they were of Before, I wasn't too surprised. I was kind of expecting this kind (and more) of corruption when I realized what having superpowers being normalized and publicized meant.

Overall it's not good, for the people that live in these areas, but for us? All I can say is thank fuck. I might have had to resort to my old methods of going unnoticed, most of which weren't comfortable or fun. Or safe, but then again nothing in my line of work was safe so that was sort of a moot point.

Getting to these poorer areas is the first obstacle. The streets leading to them are mostly empty, making it easier to spot and remember faces. Especially two (relatively defenseless) five-year-olds. The whole point of getting away is to give Tenko some time to process his trauma, not heap some more on him! That's why I opted out of the foster system or whatever they use here. I'm not so naive as to believe Tenko won't be treated differently once it gets out he killed the family, no matter how accidental it was.

I'm honestly really grateful that Tenko simply follows along to what I say and do, never actually questioning how or what I know. I've caught the confusion on his face before several times, but he only asks questions to make sure he can fully understand what I'm doing. Considering his current muteness, I've taken it upon myself to explain without prompting.

The second obstacle is finding a place to make camp. Abandoned and hidden away, easy to access for us but hard for others. Nothing permanent either, just a place that will allow us to gain our bearing and feel relatively safe.

Ideally, we would find a building that isn't already taken over by the other residents of the area. Ideally, someone will take pity on us and offer up a temporary place of stay.

Realistically, we'll constantly be on the move to avoid unwanted attention. It'll take a while to differentiate the 'poor and hopeless' from the 'desperate and dangerous'; the allies, neutrals, and enemies.

The third obstacle is planning the next step, the question of what are we to do now? There are short term and long term plans to be made, goals to set up and reach. Such as determining a better and more permanent place of residency, but only after concluding how we're going to obtain money.

What we currently have with us from withdrawing from our parents accounts is enough to let us rent a very cheap apartment for only a month and still have some left over to get necessities. However, this would draw the attention of where we're getting the money from. So we'll need a somewhat steady way of getting income before being able to spend so much.

I doubt there exists a legal way for two children to earn an income. But we're also too young and small to be trusted as competent enough for the common criminal ways of getting money (such as acting as delivery or salesperson for others). The only available options I see are stealing and begging. The older we get, the more our options will grow.

But that sort of thinking will only be relevant in a couple weeks from now. Right now, the main concern is shelter.

ʕง•ᴥ•ʔง

It takes us the most of the day, but we're able to score a place for the next few nights. Our progress was mostly stalled because of the amount of attention we got.

It couldn't be helped, I walked around like I knew what I was doing - which I do. Maybe I shouldn't have since it was so out of place, but considering that I'm the one that decided we're better off as "runaways" I have to take responsibility for it with confidence.

Thankfully, it was off-putting enough to get the other kids to leave us alone. The adults either didn't care or had better things to do than bother the "new kids" on the street. They still watched us though, which was irritating because I don't want these people to potentially know where we're going to sleep and stay.

I had found an abandoned building beyond the outskirts of the area, close to some train tracks that are completely wrecked - villain attack if I had to guess. The building, like any abandoned place, was dirty and smelled weird. Luckily, after some careful inspection, it won't fall apart at a moment's notice.

The building seems to have once been a warehouse, the inside wide and spacious, only filled with shipping containers. Instead of a second floor, there's an upstairs balcony along the walls that leads to a single office room.

The large front doors of the building were too rusted to be opened, so the entrance to the place was the small back door. Really, it was rather anticlimactic when Tenko found it just as I was thinking about finding a way to climb the walls to the windows.

I'm more surprised that no one has tried to snatch the place up for themselves yet. But seeing how far of a walk it is from the rest of the city, I suppose it makes sense. Most people like to stick close to their chances of making money. There's also no telling when someone might buy out the place to knock it down.

Overall, Tenko and I really lucked out. Just because I had to dig out a few tools near the tracks to break the back door's handle to get it open, and the inside is slowly becoming a wild garden with all the plant life and bugs seeping through the cracks, doesn't mean this a bad place to sleep.

I'll have to do something about the dust though. Tenko hasn't stopped sneezing since we first started exploring the inside. I also don't want to find out if it'll become a trigger once he stops sneezing.

"Well, what do you think?" I ask him as we stand outside of the building, just staring at it. The sun has already set about an hour ago, leaving only the moon as our light source.

He has his nose buried into his elbow, sniffling slightly. Red eyes glance at me briefly before focusing back on our new residence. I don't really expect a verbal response, so I'm surprised to hear him mumble.

"It's..okay," he says, not really enthused and seemingly confused.

I grin. "Hell yeah it is!"

There's a beginning of a smile on his face and my grin only widens. Things are probably going to be hard from here on out, but as long as we stay together, I think everything will turn out to be 'okay' too.

ʕง•ᴥ•ʔง

Tenko has his first panic attack since running away a week after settling into the new place. It's unsurprising, but that doesn't mean I was all that prepared to help out. The day he got his quirk, he broke down sobbing when realization of what he did set in. Breaking down and panic attacks are two different things.

When someone breaks down, all their emotions flood through them and rush out in one sitting. It's unstoppable once it starts up, which is why it's best to simply let it run its course before trying to calm down. They'll be too tired to freak out when they're done.

Panic attacks are like being cornered, triggered by different things. It can be anything connected with the five senses, and, among other things, sometimes an overthinking mind. It's best to quickly identify triggers so that the attacks can be avoided as much as possible. There's also no telling which methods would work best in grounding the person to gently pull them out of a panic attack.

I don't know what triggered Tenko, having found him in the midst of one as I returned from throwing out the trash. We had decided to clean up a bit, making the place as comfortable as possible.

Admittedly it took me a minute to recognize what was happening, distracted with what else we would have to do. But when I did realize what was happening, I hesitated in how I should approach.

It took a few minutes of cautious testing, but in the end - when Tenko exhausted himself to an early sleep - I was able to determine the best ways to approach him. Helping him, however, is a different matter I would need to bring up with him later.

I'm definitely investing in therapy later in life though. Hopefully I will be able to find someone that won't mind the whole accidental murder thing.

For now, watching over my twin as he fretfully sleeps, I'm more concerned with our source of income. What we currently have can only be stretched so far. I want a bit of money security before it gets to that point though.

I never liked having to beg, but I was a teenager during that time. As a child now, the act won't burn my pride as much, especially when I know that by acting pitiful and innocent, I'm more likely to be given something.

I have no moral or emotional qualms with stealing. I would rather do that, honestly, but if it goes on long and consistently enough then people will be bound to notice. Attention and acknowledgment of the act makes it all the more difficult. Especially if I just stick to pick-pocketing. And who knows what sort of quirks people will have.

It would need to wait until I'm a bit older, but I might just slink back into my old line of work. To do that I'll need to start keeping an eye and ear out for anyone that could help me get started. It's best to start off with someone else's connections instead of trying to form your own.

In the end, it's not much of a plan, just vague ideas. That's fine though, because any direction is better than no direction. I don't expect anything to fall directly in our laps, would be very suspicious if it did.

There is no doubt that the next few months- years will be very challenging. Hopefully Tenko can see it through with me.

ʕง•ᴥ•ʔง

In the time spent not cleaning up or having panic attacks, I started on teaching Tenko everything I knew about our new lifestyle. From pick-pocketing to full on house robberies and from begging to out right swindling people of their money.

Like with anything I teach him, he absorbed the information easily. He knows all the theory, but that's just it- it's theory. He won't actually be able to fully understand what he's learned unless he personally tries his hand at it. Which is where his first problem pops up, beyond the most obvious.

While I don't and can't blame him, I won't lie either. It's frustrating that my brother still has good morals with him. Which is pretty impressive, actually, with everything we've been through, but it also complicates a lot of stuff.

Not that I let him believe he's to blame for it. As his twin, older sister, and sort-of guardian now, I don't believe in lying or keeping stuff from Tenko about anything. So I told him, very bluntly, that his morals will be a bit of an issue. But I also told him that we'll find a compromise that he could live with. So long as he understood I had a different sense of morals.

He's been making a lot of headway in speaking up again by that point, so I wasn't surprised when he verbally responded. His actual words, on the other hand, definitely surprised me.

"I know. You're different, Rena-nee. You aren't bad, but you aren't good either. You're…you. Rena. My twin."

Oh, there was no doubt in my mind that that wasn't all Tenko had to say on the matter, but he also didn't have the necessary words to explain it. He certainly looked frustrated with his own wording. I got the general gist of it though, so it's fine.

I've been by his side since birth. I've actively supported him in anything he's wanted to do. I know his fears, desires and dreams. So to him, if he couldn't accept me as I am, then it'd be a disservice of all I've done for him.

Or something like that.

My brother is sometimes too nice and good for the world. It's a good thing he has me by his side. I'll happily rip apart anyone that tries to take advantage of him. Who knows how he would have turned out otherwise or what would have happened to him.

As it is, the only thing I need to be worried about currently is our source of food. So far we've been living off of the stuff I took from the house before we left, carefully rationing it out so that our stomachs could adjust to the decrease of intake. However, that isn't going to last long since there's two of us.

Nothing can actively be done until I get my and Tenko's skills and strength up; wouldn't want to get caught just because I couldn't run fast enough or climb a fence.

I'm not stupid to think that nothing will go wrong, but I can at least ensure that I've done everything I could to prepare. Even if that means manipulating and taking advantage of others.

My top priority is Tenko and there is a very short list of things I wouldn't do to ensure his health and happiness. Making false promises and eventually backstabbing others in a similar position is not on that list.

The idea first came to me when Tenko made a short, frustrated comment on how long our cleaning efforts will take before they pay off. I had a passing thought of how helpful a couple of extra hands would be. Not for just our cleaning, but everything - income, food, skills, information.

I haven't brought the idea up with my brother yet. As I said earlier, I don't believe in keeping him in the dark about things, especially important decisions that could affect him. As such, it's still only an idea. I doubt he'll be very enthusiastic about potentially and inevitably backstabbing others.

The idea has merit though and I'm not about to drop it entirely. There's still things to do and think over before I can decide to go through with it, but it's my most favored plan at the moment.

First though is getting a better idea of the city's poor and homeless population's attitude. As well as the attitude everyone else has toward them.

ʕง•ᴥ•ʔง

"People are dicks."

Tenko says it so suddenly that it startles his sister into a coughing fit, choking on the water she was drinking. He watches worriedly as she bends over to catch her breath and spit out what water remained in her mouth.

Breathing a little heavily, she turns to him and manages to wheeze out, "Wh-What?"

Despite her obvious confusion, he can see the smile she's not trying very hard to hide. She straightens up to fully face him, either ignoring or not noticing the water stains on her shirt. With a grin firmly in place, she raises a brow at him in question.

Tenko huffs, looking away briefly as embarrassment crawls through his system. He hadn't meant to blurt it out, but he felt that he needed to share his opinion without being asked for it.

It's progress, he knows, even if it doesn't feel like it. Ever since the Incident (aptly named he thinks, ignoring his sister's muttered complaints of cliché's) he's stopped talking, had become unresponsive to most things.

Then Rena started giving him tasks to do, stuff to keep his mind off the memories and nightmares. He found he would be able to respond to her if he was doing something, but he never spoke unless spoken to. Never went out of his way to start a conversation.

He didn't think he'd ever get to that point for a long time but this was something he had to say. All on his own, without prompting.

"People are dicks," he repeats, much more firmly than the first time.

Rena tilts her head but nods earnestly. "They are."

They stare at each other for a moment; Rena in curiosity and Tenko in deep thought. He knows that she's waiting to see if he has anything more to say on the matter. He does; has an entire rant building in his head that he wants to let out. But the thought of actually opening his mouth and doing so — it scares him for a reason he can't name or identify.

So he scowls at the ground instead, ears burning with shame at his own perceived weakness. He doesn't look up when he hears Rena walk closer, or when she reaches out to hold his hand in her's. The touch is comforting, even if a large part of him is waiting for the makeshift gloves he wears to finally fail and that this time will be the last time he can hold his sister.

He tightens his hold on her hand instead, resolutely ignoring that part of himself. Because an even bigger part of himself is selfish. Selfish for the comfort that being near and being able to hold his sister brings him. Selfish for the last remnants of his family, his peace and safety, as close as possible.

Tenko will always be afraid of being the reason that drives Rena away (of being what kills her like he killed them-) but he is even more afraid of what life would be like if he didn't cling to her and never let go.

He doesn't think he would have lasted as long as they have if he was by himself. Not when Rena, for all her quick temper, is the more level-headed between them. Not when she's the one to come up with the plans, always knowing the best ways to do things in an efficient manner.

It's one of the reasons Tenko doesn't question or doubt his sister. He won't deny that he's curious, but he trusts Rena too much to voice any questions.

Much like how, three weeks ago, he didn't ask any questions when Rena explained that they'll be leaving their makeshift home during the afternoon from then on. She had explained why when she brought it up, so there wasn't much else for him to say other than to insist he joins her when she asked if he would rather stay back.

Tenko is both glad he insisted and regrets his decision. He knew the logic behind Rena's plan. By knowing how people think and treat each other, especially those in different financial status and housing, it's easier to predict and trick them.

Doesn't make it any less disgusting and enraging to hear what they have to say, or see how they react.

People are jerkface, whiny, undeveloped dicks.

"They're a product of society," Rena voices, still looking at him curiously.

He scrunches his nose in frustrated thought, looking up from the ground to fully show his sister why he thinks that is complete bullshit.

"Society is people though."

She rolls his eyes at him. "Well, yes. But society is also the normalized thoughts and feelings that have amalgamated for centuries; the same thoughts and feelings that are constantly passed on to the next generation. People don't know better because they weren't taught better."

He frowns, because as usual his sister's words have merit. He understands what she's trying to say and, while he never took her as the type, it's still so very Rena of her. Rena doesn't see people for what they are, she sees them for what they've been raised to be.

"It still doesn't give them the right to be assholes, of course," she continues. "They are still their own person, with their own opinions and feelings. Adults especially."

Ah, Tenko thinks, there it is. He was wondering why her words seemed to paint everyone as a victim in an unending cycle. But that's not what she was trying to say. It's not everyone that's a victim, it's just the children.

He wonders where her fierce protection and fondness for children came from. He knows that she didn't get along with their (now former) classmates, but still looked out for all of them if need be. It couldn't have come from taking care of him or always getting into some argument with their (dead dead dead ) father.

Just another thing he probably won't ever get to know or understand about his twin.

"Right, whatever," he mumbles, tired of the conversation already. He made his point clear and that's all he really cares about at the moment. "Now what?"

They've spent the last three weeks interacting with people in small ways, while also exploring the city. Tenko can now say he knows the place better than he knew about his own neighborhood. Their movements were only hindered by well-meaning, actually-good-people cops.

At least he now knows how to straight up lie to an authority figure and not feel guilty about it. It's actually pretty fun, those few seconds spent thinking up a quick but believable lie are kind of adrenaline inducing. There's also a sense of satisfaction that comes with knowing he was able to pull it off at all.

"Now," Rena grins, the English quickly grabbing his attention and interest, "my baby padawan, we start building our new lives."

His first thought is, what the hell is a 'padawan'? Quickly followed up by, I'm not a baby. We're the same age, damnit. But then he finally settles on, as long as Rena is with me, I don't care what our futures hold, with an agreeing grin.